Man shot by Mesa police was unarmed

A 38-year-old man who was shot by Mesa police Thursday had threatened to kill them, but was not armed when he was shot.

Police originally said Thursday that Phillip A. Trimble was shot by three officers when he dropped a cellphone and pointed a gun at them.

But after further investigation, homicide detectives discovered Trimble had only simulated a weapon, acting as if he was grabbing a handgun tucked in his waistband before officers opened fire.

"It appears that he just simulated the weapon with his hand," said Detective Steve Berry, a police spokesman.

"He made the statement, 'I've got a .357 magnum, I'm going to shoot you guys," Berry said. "That why we had such a heightened response, because he made threats at officers."

Berry said officers discovered Trimble was not armed when the Maricopa County Medical Examiners Office arrived on the scene and moved the body.

The shooting occurred at 2:36 p.m. Thursday after police had convinced Trimble to step outside his home in the 9000 block of East Glade Avenue, near Southern Avenue and Ellworth Road.

Berry said Trimble had appeared unstable during a series of phone calls he made to police, starting at 1:13 p.m. He initially reported a robbery.

Berry said police found evidence that Trimble had been drinking prior to the shooting.

Officers wanted to help Trimble and only shot him when they perceived a threat to their own lives, he said.

"The ultimate goal is to help, not to hurt," Berry said. Police will review the case to see if there were other tactics that could have been used.

He said officers were too far away from Trimble to have used a Taser to subdue him.

Court records show Trimble had no prior history of violent acts. He had been sentenced a year ago in Maricopa County Superior Court to four months in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but the sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation for two years.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2011/08/19/20110819mesa-police-shoot-unarmed-man.html

Fabian Cota, Mesa Police Union Official, Reportedly Tells San Diego Cops: "Take Me to Jail ... Dickweeds!"

A San Diego police report shows that Fabian Cota, president of the Mesa Police Association, was trying to protect the honor of a female friend before being handcuffed and hauled off to a drunk tank.

Cota, who's currently on disciplinary probation with Mesa PD, as we reported earlier today, presented a danger to himself or others because he was so wasted, the report states. The cop-on-cop fun began when two of San Diego's finest happened to pull up behind a human-powered "pedi-cab" and noticed two obviously inebriated women stumble out. One of them walked up to a car, keys in hand, slurring her words as she spoke to two men in the pedi-cab.

"You're not going to drive, are you?" one of the cops asked the woman. That was the plan, she informed him. The two cops intervened and asked the pedi-cab to move along.

That's when Cota, one of the pedi-cab riders, spoke up. He became argumentative and accused the officers of harassing the woman:

"Why are you being such dickweeds to her?" he inquired of the cops, according to the report.

The cop talking to the woman who wanted to drive had to repeat himself several times to be heard over Cota's yelling, even though Cota was 20 feet away, the report states.

"I told Cota to leave because he was intoxicated and would end up in jail if he stayed," Officer Justin Mattly wrote in his report. "Cota said, 'Well take me to jail you fucking dickweeds!"

Cota was asked to step out of the pedi-cab. He told the officers he wanted to find his car so he could leave, the report says. Mattly told him he was too drunk to drive, slapped on some cuffs and drove Cota to "detox." On the way, Cota told the officer he'd intended to drive back to his hotel.

"I asked Cota what hotel he was staying at and he could not remember," Mattly wrote.

At the detox station, a drunk-tank facility, Cota asked to speak to supervisors. He also passed out three times -- once on the way to detox and twice while at the facility, says the report.

San Diego Detective Gary Hassen told New Times earlier today that people taken into custody for public intoxication are often allowed to sober up at the detox station rather than face criminal charges. After a mandatory four-hour stay in the facility, Cota was allowed to leave without further problem and won't be charged.

As our previous blog post mentioned, though, Cota's been assigned to administrative duties in lieu of a possible internal investigation.

This is one hangover sure to leave a lingering headache.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/06/fabian_cota_mesa_police_union.php

Mesa police union president detained in alcohol incident

Mesa Police Association President Sgt. Fabian Cota is the subject of an investigation after being detained early Saturday by San Diego police on a charge of disorderly conduct involving alcohol.

Cota, a 26-year police veteran, was not arrested but was "detained by the San Diego Police Department and was taken to detox and released from there," said Detective Gary Hassen, a San Diego police spokesman.

Mesa police officials learned of the incident Saturday morning, said Sgt. Ed Wessing, a Mesa police spokesman. By Monday, Cota was "assigned to an administrative function, while we pursue an internal investigation."

Initially, Mesa police officials were told Cota was arrested, but later learned he was detained, processed and held in detox. California law allows people to be held for at least four hours and released without charges after sobering up.

Cota makes $88,420 per year as a sergeant and $12,000 per year as union president. Cota also serves as vice president of the Arizona Police Association and did not return messages seeking comment.

Mesa police's investigation will determine whether Cota violated any department code-of-conduct policies.

Kevin Christopher, a city spokesman, said the City Manager's Office is allowing the Police Department to handle an investigation into the matter.

It's unclear how the incident will affect his position as leader of Mesa's police union. MPA officials were not immediately available for comment.

Cota's brush with the law comes after he completed a three-day suspension without pay and as he remains on one-year probation. The discipline is tied to Cota not properly reporting how an employee list was used during the department's February 2010 election between the MPA and rival Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 9.

That investigation centered on how the MPA's parent organization, the Arizona Police Association, received a list of police officer names, which were used to e-mail an election flier. The FOP lodged a complaint, stating the MPA violated election rules barring the use of city resources for the election.

City officials told investigators Cota changed his story when questioned about how the APA received the list. Cota denied their allegations and said his former girlfriend, Stacey Dillon, who handles the MPA's media relations, forwarded the contact info to the APA.

The City Council went on to nullify the February 2010 election results and ordered a new election be held last October.

MPA won that contest and Cota is in the process of negotiating a memorandum of understanding, which will outline how the organization will communicate with the city on future policy issues.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2011/06/06/20110606mesa-police-union-president-detained-california-alcohol-incident.html

Mesa police: Officer used crime database to harass women

A Mesa police officer has been indicted on charges of misusing a law-enforcement database to date and harass women he met on duty.

One of the women was a theft victim, and others were suspects he had pulled over for traffic violations.

The indictment came just a week after another Mesa police officer and his wife were indicted on felony mortgage fraud charges in an unrelated case.

Mesa Police Chief Frank Milstead said he was "outraged" by the two cases and has placed both men on paid leave pending internal investigations.

Officer Todd Randall Duthie, an five-year veteran, was indicted on four felony counts of having unauthorized access to a state criminal history database and one misdemeanor count of harassment.

The charges stem from Duthie allegedly using his position to follow and score dates with four women, according to a police report.

Duthie's attorney Scott Halverson declined to comment on the case and Duthie did not return a message left at his Queen Creek home.

Mesa police initially opened an internal investigation last fall after one of the women complained, a police report states. But once an investigator found Duthie may have violated the law, a criminal investigation was opened, Wessing said.

Duthie contacted the first woman Sept. 15, 2009, after she reported a theft at the Las Palmas Carniceria at 7246 E. Main Street, the report states. The officer then began calling her and stopping by the store and the woman's residence.

A GPS system inside Duthie's squad car tracked his movements as he repeatedly parked outside another woman's house and as he continued to pull over two other women, who claim he tried to date them.

During a traffic stop with another woman July 8, 2010, Duthie reportedly said "I'm supposed to give you a ticket, but I won't. Since I'm not . . . let me have a date or something," the report states.

Duthie has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which came just a week after Officer Mark Anthony Escarcega and his wife Blanca were indicted on charges of mortgage fraud.

The charges stem from the purchase of a home in Mesa four years ago, authorities have stated.

Blanca Escarcega allegedly claimed she separated from her husband and received a mortgage loan modification from Bank of America stating the separation created a financial hardship, according to the Associated Press.

However, the couple never separated, and they purchased a new home and rented out the old one, court documents state.

Word of the Escarcegas' housing deal reached the department and, sensing a crime had been committed, the FBI was contacted, Mesa police spokesman Sgt. Ed Wessing said.

The Escarcegas have also pleaded not guilty.

Wessing said the department is trying to remain as transparent as possible with officer misconduct cases.

"The public doesn't need to worry that we have a corruption or misconduct issue. As an agency, we take these types of violation very seriously," he said.

Wessing added that Milstead was furious when he learned of the initial internal investigation into Duthie's activities.

"He was outraged that a member of our agency would conduct himself in that manner," Wessing said. "When an officer engages in misconduct like this, it impacts all of us. We are as outraged as the community is."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/04/28/20110428mesa-police-officer-indicted-charges-harrassing-women0428.html

Mesa Police Officer Arrested For Mortgage Fraud

A Mesa police officer and his wife have been arrested for lying to their mortgage lender after a federal investigation.

Blanca and Mark Escarcega purchased a home four years ago in Santa Rita Ranch in Mesa. According to Zillow.com, they paid $344,000 for the 1,880-square-foot home. Today, Zillow.com estimates it's only worth $175,000.

According to the Maricopa county attorney's office, the trouble began when Blanca wrote a hardship letter to their lender, Bank of America, asking for a loan modification, claiming she and her husband had separated.

According to court documents, she wrote the letter between October 2009 and August 2010. Bank of America gave her a loan modification, with the stipulation she live there at least another year.

But the county attorney's office said the couple was never separated. Instead, they rented out their Santa Rita home, and together purchased a 4,000-square-foot home in Valencia Groves in Mesa last August. According to county records, the couple paid $325,000 for their new home, using $10,395 as a down payment.

According to sources, Mark Escarcega came to work bragging about how he and his wife had rigged a deal with their lender to move up in house, but his colleagues recognized fraud and told the chief, who notified the FBI.

On Monday, both Blanca and Mark Escarcega were booked and charged with one count of residential mortgage fraud. If convicted, they could get up to three years behind bars. Both pleaded not guilty.

Michelle Christie is their current tenant, who knew nothing of her landlords' legal troubles. "It's kind of upsetting," Christie said. "Hopefully the owners will contact me and let me know what's going to happen to me, and my kids."

Kelly Gorman is a real estate attorney in Glendale. He said even the slightest fib on a mortgage application is considered fraud.

"There are people now that will try to game the system, because they know there are others catching breaks on their loans. So they'll try to restructure it," Gorman said.

The Mesa police department has suspended Escarcega on administrative leave until it can conduct its own internal investigation.

http://www.kpho.com/news/27632963/detail.html

Lawsuit alleges Mesa police beating

A Mesa man who claims he was beaten by several Mesa police officers while being arrested has filed a lawsuit against the department. Aaron Belander is serving a 30-month prison term for aggravated assault, but on Nov. 4 he filed a lawsuit in which he claims seven officers broke two of his ribs and nose during the Sept. 9, 2009, beating.

Caught on tape

The entire nighttime incident was captured on video, which was shot by a Mesa police helicopter hovering overhead. At the time, police learned Belander was free from jail while he awaited trial on a suspected home invasion in summer 2009. Police had been watching Belander's vehicle after they learned he may have a handgun, which is illegal for a convicted felon.

Traffic stop and chase

The infrared video shot from the helicopter shows Belander stop his pickup outside Highland High School in Gilbert. Two minutes later, he was surrounded by nine police vehicles.

A short time later, Belander could be seen fleeing from his pickup and police officers gave chase on foot. Belander later stopped and threw his hands up to surrender.

Seconds later, an officer shot Belander with a Taser, and he fell to the ground. In police reports, the officers claimed Belander refused to show his hands and reached for his waist. Once on the ground, Belander began fighting with officers, who admitted in their reports to kicking and wrestling with him.

Belander was hit with a Taser a second time before being placed in handcuffs.

Injuries

Belander pleaded guilty to felony attempted aggravated assault for an unrelated incident on Sept. 3, 2009. In court documents, Belander's attorney, Geoffrey H. Fish, claims the attack left his client with a broken nose, two fractured ribs and "numerous contusions and lacerations."

The lawsuit accuses the officers of using excessive force, negligence, battery and violating Belander's constitutional rights.

Mesa police and city officials generally do not speaking on pending litigation. In May, Belander and his attorney offered to settle the incident with the city for $350,000.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2011/01/11/20110111mesa-police-beating-lawsuit0112.html

Mesa police shoot, kill man officers said was suicidal

For the second time in a week, Mesa police said a suicidal man was shot and killed by officers during a confrontation.

The officer-involved shooting occurred late Wednesday night, Mesa Police said, in the 700 block of West Farmdale Avenue.

Police said officers were alerted to the scene at around 8:00 p.m. Negotiators were on scene when the suspect exited the house through the garage for the first time.

Police said the suspect had a gun but did not raise the weapon at officers. Police then fired rubber bullets and a percussion grenade at the man as way to force him to surrender. The suspect instead went back in the house.

Mesa Police Detective Steve Berry said the man exited a second time, and police responded by firing bean-bag rounds at him. Police said the suspect continued to approach officers and raised his weapon at authorities. One officer responded by firing his weapon at the suspect. Details on how many rounds were fired and where the suspect was hit were not available.

Mesa Police said no officers were injured, and the suspect was pronounced dead at the hospital. Police said they were dispatched to the scene after receiving a suicidal person call.

No further details were available.

On Monday, Cole Ravel, 35, died from injuries he received after Mesa police shot him Sept. 30 at an apartment complex at 1840 W. Emilita Ave. as he reportedly came after the officers with a machete.

Police said at the time of the shooting that Ravel's mother told them he had threatened to commit suicide earlier that day.

As one of the officers entered the apartment, Ravel met him with a "large machete-type" knife, police said.

The officer fell in the doorway and as he attempted to back away, Ravel advanced toward him, police said. By then two other officers had arrived and opened fire, striking him multiple times.

The officers chose not to use their Tasers on Ravel because he was too close to them, police said.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2010/10/07/20101007mesa-police-shoot-kill-man.html

Madrigal lawsuit on police shooting hits $227,365 but still stalled

The shooting death of Mario Madrigal Jr. has cost Mesa hundreds of thousands of dollars, even though the 4-year-old civil suit doesn't even have a trial date yet.

So far, the city has paid an outside law firm, Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, $227,365 to defend the case, according to City Attorney Debbie Spinner, who released the price tag in response to a public-records request.

The wrongful death case filed by the boy's parents revolves around whether police were justified in shooting the 15-year-old to death after he slashed at officers with a knife. Family members say the boy was falling to ground after being hit with a Taser and was shot in the back.U.S. District Court Judge Earl Carroll has yet to issue any rulings or schedule hearings on several key motions pending in the marathon case, which was filed in Maricopa County Superior Court in 2004 and then moved to federal court two years later.

The motions include the city's attempt to have the case dismissed and an attempt by the Madrigals' attorney to eventually show jurors an animated version of the shooting.

The Mesa City Council was briefed behind closed doors on the case's status on Dec. 4.

"The city looks at every case and constantly evaluates its merit,"said Steve Wright, a city spokesman. The choice is whether to fight the suit or settle out of court, Wright said. More than five years after the Aug. 25, 2003, shooting, the city and the Madrigal family still have vastly different versions of what happened that night.

They agree only that the family called police because Mario Jr. was intoxicated and armed with a knife and they feared he might commit suicide.

The family's attorney, Ray Slomski, argues in court documents that the shooting was unnecessary, that three officers shot Mario Jr. 10 times in a kitchen doorway as he was falling to the ground.

"The nearest police officer was approximately 10 feet away from the falling boy when the first shot was fired," according to the court records.
 

Slomski said the shots struck Mario Jr. in his left side and his back as he was turning away from officers.

The three officers were cleared of wrongdoing by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

Marc Steadman, an assistant Mesa city attorney, argues that Mario Jr. cursed at police "and came at Officer (Mark) Beckett, slashing at him with a knife."

Beckett, Officer Richard Henry and Sgt. Tracey Dean fired "because they believed Mario would stab Officer Beckett if he was not stopped. They reasonably believed Officer Beckett's life was in danger," Steadman wrote.

After the shooting, Beckett said, "I thought I was was going to die," according to the city's motion for summary judgment.

Dean and Henry have retired from the force. Beckett still works in the patrol division in the Red Mountain precinct.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2009/01/06/20090106mr-madrigal0107.html

Mesa pays $2 million to settle police shooting case

by Nathan Gonzalez - Sept. 25, 2008 06:06 PM
The Mesa Republic

Mesa has agreed to pay $2 million to the family of James Deon Lennox, who was fatally shot in 2006 by a Mesa detective after Lennox fought with and threw a plastic chair at the officer.

The settlement, reached in June but just coming to light, comes more than a year after Lennox's family filed suit in federal court, alleging Detective David Kohler used excessive force when he shot the 35-year-old father of four.

"We feel vindicated," Lennox's mother, Joetta Cooper, said from her Sacramento home. "I'm glad he can now rest in peace and the family can now move on. Life cannot move on until you forgive. Your life will be at a standstill."

 

Deputy City Attorney Mark Ishikawa said the settlement, the second-largest in city history, is not an admission of wrongdoing by Kohler or the city.

"In an incident like this, just because something is settled doesn't mean anything was done wrong," Ishikawa said. "We just had a difference of opinion of the facts of the case."

The March 30, 2006, incident began after Lennox and his live-in girlfriend returned from celebrating his recent promotion. The couple got into an argument and police were called. 

Three officers, including Kohler, were on the scene when one used pepper spray to subdue Lennox, according to the family's lawsuit. He twice attempted to surrender to police. Kohler threw Lennox to the ground and the two began wrestling, the suit said.

"Several of the witnesses to the event stated the officer used an ethnic slur before the shooting," said Herb Ely, the Lennox family attorney. Police have denied that.

Lennox rose to his feet and flung a chair, hitting Kohler in the shoulder, the lawsuit states. Lennox then threw a second chair and Kohler fired twice, hitting Lennox in the chest and shoulder.

Kohler told investigators he fired at Lennox after the man punched him several times in the face, threw the plastic chair and was reaching for a metal chair.

Kohler was cleared of wrongdoing.

"The police officer should not have felt he was in danger," Ely said. "This was a lawn chair that weighed a few pounds."

The incident will be reviewed by the department's Use of Force Board, which will determine whether Kohler violated any policies or if additional training for officers is needed, said Sgt. Ed Wessing, a police spokesman.

"At the request of the city, they asked that we didn't do that review until the case was resolved," Wessing said.

Kohler, an 18-year veteran of the department, declined, through Wessing, to comment.

Chief George Gascón indefinitely removed Kohler from outside field work after the detective was involved in another shooting this year, Wessing said.

Lennox's mother said she no longer faults Kohler or the Police Department. She blamed lawmakers and policymakers who "allow police to shoot if they are in any way in danger."

"The laws they put in place allowed for this to happen," she said. "Back in the day, they had lynching for minorities. As far as I'm concerned, the modern-day lynching is a shooting by police officer."

The largest payout by the city was $2.4 million to Bruce Bellemore, who in 2004 fell about 10 feet from a tree and landed on his head after he was shot twice with a Taser stun gun by a police officer. The incident left him a quadriplegic.

Mesa cop makes obscene gesture at pro-immigrant protesters

Mesa police plan to discipline an officer who admitted making an obscene gesture as he drove past pro-immigrant protesters Wednesday in a marked police vehicle.

Sgt. Mike Doherty, a 20-year veteran, admitted he made obscene gestures "due to his general distaste for protesters," according to Holly Hosac, a Mesa police spokeswoman.

Doherty was in uniform when he passed about 30 members of Immigrants Without Borders, an immigrant advocacy group that has protested in the past against crackdowns on undocumented immigrants by Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The group was protesting peacefully at Alma School Road and Main Street. Several group members reported an officer displaying an obscene gesture twice as he drove past them. Information from witnesses led police to identify Doherty.

"While Doherty stated that he did not know what the demonstration was about, he acknowledged his actions were inappropriate and unprofessional," Hosac wrote in a press release.

Police Chief George Gascón said the department is required to respect the Constitutional rights of everyone, saying, "there is no justifiable reason for this type of behavior."

Police said disciplinary action against Doherty is pending but did not elaborate.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0906obscene0906-on.html

Federal Steroid Probe of Phoenix Cops and Firefighters Widens

PHOENIX -- At least a dozen Phoenix civil servants -- police officers and firefighters -- are under investigation in a federal probe for alleged criminal use of anabolic steroids, CBS 5 Investigates has learned.

5 Investigates has learned the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration began targeting doctors and clinics that have been writing bogus prescriptions for steroids.

The Phoenix police and fire departments have explicit written policies against the use of illegal anabolic steroids on the job.

Still, their departments are in the thick of criminal investigations that began almost two years ago with the Mesa Police Department and has now drawn the attention of the DEA.

"It's very concerning to use that our employees are illegally using these substances," said Kim Humphrey, Phoenix Police Department commander in charge of internal affairs.

Humphrey said they're aware of the possibility that more than a dozen officers may be involved in the federal case.

Police Learn Of Probe 3 Months Ago

Humphrey said they learned of the investigation three months ago after Phoenix police contacted the State Of Arizona Naturopathic Physicians Board Of Medical Examiners when one of their officers who tested positive in a random drug screen produced a prescription that didn't appear to be legitimate.

In the wake of a CBS 5 investigation last year, Phoenix police started randomly screening officers for steroids.

The Phoenix Fire Department just started pre-employment testing for firefighters.

CBS 5's investigations uncovered more than a dozen other firefighters, police and corrections officers across the Valley arrested, charged and convicted of felony steroids possession and distribution.

Those cases have uncovered serious reports of domestic violence, restraining orders and allegations of rage.

Phoenix police are now working with the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board in charge of certifying all arizona police officers to draft a statewide policy on illegal steroids.

Stay tuned to CBS 5 and KPHO.com for more exclusive details as the investigation unfolds in the coming days.

http://www.kpho.com/news/13732952/detail.html